Poetry · Chapter
Romance explained
The speaker reflects on the early influence of Romance, personified as a gentle, singing bird that taught him his first words in the wild wood.
What happens
The speaker reflects on the early influence of Romance, personified as a gentle, singing bird that taught him his first words in the wild wood. In contrast, the present is marked by tumultuous years that leave no time for idle cares, and even moments of calm are spent with lyre and rhyme, where the heart trembles with the strings.
Themes in this chapter
Time and Memory
The contrast between the peaceful childhood in the wild wood and the tumultuous 'eternal Condor years' highlights the passage of time and its impact on the speaker.
Love and Beauty
Romance, as a personification of love and beauty, is depicted as a gentle, singing presence that shapes the speaker's early life.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
The speaker recounts his childhood learning from Romance and his current state of being shaken by the passage of time.
- Young Love
Romance is personified as a familiar bird that taught the speaker his earliest words, associated with youthful innocence.
Key passages
“Romance, who loves to nod and sing, With drowsy head and folded wing, Among the green leaves as they shake Far down within some shadowy lake, To me a painted paroquet Hath been—a most familiar bird— Taught me my alphabet to say— To lisp my very earliest word While in the wild wood I did lie, A child—with a most knowing eye.”
Romance, a drowsy, singing bird among the leaves reflected in a lake, was like a familiar parrot to me, teaching me my first letters and words as I lay in the wild wood as a child with a perceptive gaze.
The speaker describes how Romance personified as a bird taught him language during his childhood in nature.
“Of late, eternal Condor years So shake the very Heaven on high With tumult as they thunder by, I have no time for idle cares Through gazing on the unquiet sky.”
Recently, the endless, vulture-like years have shaken the heavens with their noisy passage, leaving me no time for trivial worries as I watch the restless sky.
The speaker contrasts his peaceful childhood with the chaotic, rushing years of adulthood.